1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for auto-cleaning to-be-cleaned items such as dining ware items and a dishwasher employing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dishwashers used in business places usually need to wash a great amount and many kinds of dining ware items everyday. According to different cleaning requirements and wont operations, various kinds of commercially available dishwashers have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,952 disclosed an apparatus for washing dishes, which comprises racks for accommodating dishes to be washed, a rack carry-in unit for carrying the racks with the to-be-washed dishes into a washing tank, and a lifter unit for forwarding the racks with the dishes after completion of washing in the washing tank to a wagon, which is to be moved by an employee to a desired location for the purpose of reuse of the cleaned dishes after completion of loading of the racks therein. U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,798 disclosed a conveyer dishwasher, which uses spray nozzles to spray a sufficient amount of high pressure and high temperature cleaning fluid on to-be-cleaned dishes or dining bowls which are placed on a continuously operating conveyer so as to meet the need of cleaning a substantial quantity of dinnerware.
The above-mentioned conventional dishwashers usually occupy a large installation space in order to arrange the mechanisms of dinnerware conveying, cleaning and drying. Therefore, they are not suitable to be used in a small restaurant or in a place having a high space cost. In addition, these conventional dishwashers are usually installed inside the kitchen, resulting in that employees need to collect soiled dishes from a dining area in advance, and then place the to-be-cleaned dishes in the rack or on the conveyer one by one, and finally take the dishes after completion of washing and drying out of the dishwashers for reuse. The whole washing process is time-consuming, thereby increasing the cost of labor.
In addition, referring to FIG. 11, the conventional dishwashers 1 installed inside the kitchen are usually kept a certain distance from the place where the dishes are actually used; therefore, used dishes will be firstly collected at a storage place 2, and when the dishes are accumulated to a certain extent, the accumulated soiled dishes will then be moved by employee at one time to the dishwashers for cleaning. In this way, the food debris remained on the dishes tends to become hardened and to be stuck on the to-be-cleaned dishes when the dishes wait for washing at the storage place 2. As a result, a great amount of strong cleaning fluid may need to be used to clean the to-be-cleaned dishes completely, increasing the cost of washing, violating the requirement of environment protection and increasing the possibility of contamination of dishes.